Paul Goldman: ABC Privatization Will Create Oligopoly, Lose Revenues

In this debate, Paul Goldman makes a few key points on ABC privatization that absolutely blow the idea out of the water: 1) it won’t raise nearly as much revenue as the $250 million Virginia gets now; 2) this won’t help transportation, as Bob McDonnell claims; 3) this will create “an oligopoly in the wholesale business” – very valuable licenses for some very politically connected people” – and actually hurt the free market for alcoholic beverages in Virginia. In response, Norm Leahy basically says we don’t know the details of Bob McDonnell’s proposal yet, so we don’t know if Paul Goldman’s claims are correct. Well, mayyyyyybe, but that raises an important question: after debating McDonnell’s proposal for about a year now, why don’t we know the details yet? What’s Bob McDonnell hiding exactly? Very curious.